Stress can affect us on a number of different levels, typically physically, mentally, emotionally and behaviourally. You may recognise some of the symptoms mentioned. The levels are obviously inter-related. For example, if we’re feeling tense (emotion), we may be too busy to relax (behaviour), become over-sensitive (mental ) and suffer with vague aches and pains (physical). These symptoms feed off each other, and can turn into a vicious cycle, which is sometimes difficult to get out of.

The good news here is that if we can address and improve on one of the 4 symptom areas, this will have a knock-on effect on the others. If you can change the way you think, you can change the way you feel, and conversely, if you feelings improve, your thinking has a better chance of improving too. We can look at the example of how feeling down might lead us to be unsociable, and to be a ‘stay-at-home’. There may be a short-term benefit in this, as if we’re feeling un-confident, we won’t feel challenged by social situations, having to interact with others etc. However, this behaviour may well lead to feelings of isolation, and contribute to this lack of confidence, feeling down and so on.

If we can – and we can, it’s a question of tapping into resources that we may have temporarily forgotten or lost - we need to find ways of thinking and behaving that are more helpful for us. This will often be a gradual, step-by-step process, so evolution rather than revolution, as old habits die hard, and we may have been thinking and behaving in ways that aren’t helpful for us for quite some time.